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IS300 Aristo Swap (in progress) *pics* - Now GT35R Swap **Complete**

11K views 43 replies 26 participants last post by  Pat-0 
#1 · (Edited)
Thanks for all of the positive comments!

I purchased these alloys here. 18x8.5 +35 front 18x9.5 +35 rear and just got Potenza S-03's fitted to them.



For the love of god.... dont ask about the rears - fortunately they will not be staying on the car until i can work my shit out.

I have been looking through a range of wheel arch flares to conceal these things but really id just prefer to go a widebody kit - searched through my.is and from what i gather there aren't too many available.

Also chasing up a few other things too, i think i am going to have real fun with that return line :p does anyone have problems with theirs leaking after tapping through the plastic fuel pump cradle/carrier?

Using one of these intercoolers, its not a bad size although it can be a little too wide - just the core alone comes in at 520 x 160 x 127mm. We sell these all the time as they fit well behind the GS300/SC300 bumpers.

 
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#4 ·
Engine fit this weekend

02-09-2008 02:42 PM
MSMIS3 should have searched a little more for the wheels man sorry they are not going to work out
Tell me about it, after a little more research i now understand that i need much higher offset's.

But on another note - I now have time to fit this to the car (and about time!)
I'll keep the stock twins on untill i work out what size turbo i want to replace it with.




I will be fitting the motor this weekend, and i am going to try and run both the Aristo ecu + the IS300 ecu in the hope that i wont have to rely a piggyback to get the A/FR's correct.
I would have loved to just plug the aristo ecu in but in Aus. all of the is300's regardless of manufacture year all run the late 02+ ecu.

I think i may have to start up a different thread for conversion pics/writeup as not to go off topic with this one - or can part of this just be moved by admin and i will just post everything up in here?
 
#10 · (Edited)
The Swap

Here are some photo's of the swap so far - i am far from finished but the weather has been shit and on saturday everything went wrong
The water pump, timing belt, and seals i was supplied where all incorrect - just my luck that no one had them in stock either and now i have to wait untill monday.
Oh and the camera and my phone both went flat... great - anyway here goes
3 Jumpers and 3 shirts and i was still cold.









Okay So here is where the camera went flat - Basically i bolted the the is300 trans to my aristo engine, funny enough the plugs where the same on the aristo loom (i doubt it would know what to do with my trans). I put the unit back in ( a lot of messing around ) and forgot to mention i had the rear turbo inlet machined down 8mm although i am yet to fit it to the motor.



Picture From my n95.... not the best quality but hey. managed to get one photo out of it.

I still have to put the fuel pump assembly in (have a walbro fitted to a spare one) , Fuel return line, exhaust and intercooler pipework, and my favourite - the wiring.

I have been searching but i would like to know what you guys retain on the stock ecu when putting standalone's in - this would help me greatly as i still want my cruise to work so would that mean letting the is300 ecu control the throttle assembly...?
 
#15 ·
IS300 VVT-i Aristo Swap, +GT35R Swap

Where to start.......

1) Once the I/C and Dump pipes where all complete and it came time to start the car i noticed it would only run for a max of 10 seconds, and very rough too might i add.
I didn't know what the hell was going on, so i replaced every sensor on the engine; still no luck. I re-timed the engine just incase i got it wrong, checked every wire on the loom and even changed the plugs.
I spent a whole week trying to put the blame on anything but the Emanage, after all i had the unit for about 3 years and i worked in all my previous cars. I removed the EMU and ran it with the stock lexus ecu and Boom* it ran - rich, but still it was running.

The persistent fool that i am i still believed that it was not the emu at fault, but purchased an AEM FIC just incase. I sent the EMU to a friend who tried it on his jzx100 and it did the same thing.
I then decided to do-away with the standard twins, and go for a GT35R setup... boy what a b@#ch it was to remove those things while the engine was in the car.

Here is a list of some of the extra parts i ended up purchasing for what was to be a simple, sedate, twin turbo IS300...

- GT35R (v-band)
- Sard 800cc Injectors
- Cast Manifold
- 38mm Gate
- 2x 25mm BOV's
- AEM FIC
- PWR Tranny Cooler & P/S Cooler......

The Exhaust is currently being done in 3.1/2" Stainless mandrel, it should turn out nicely. I am getting a truck exhaust place to make me a custom stainless muffler box, as the only ones available here are 3" cannon's that fart and carry on.

Here are some pics of progress.








At this point i realized the EMU was Farked..... I am uploading the recent photo's to my webspace. They will be up shortly.
 
#16 ·
Wow Dude. Great Project.
I didn't know this thread was going on. Do you want me to move it to the "Go Faster" section? It might be more appropriate.
 
#19 ·
yea he's had all but bad luck on all of this, but still seem to keep pushing it!

The swap looks great and the build is good to see! The 2jzgte vvti and gt35r should be a really good match!
 
#25 ·
really like the GTE log manifold and the configuration of it in our engine bay - very nice! The turbo will yield insanely fast spool but the hotside does look tiny for top end. It should deliver the response you are looking for!
 
#29 ·
the only bad part about it, is there isn't much clearance after that near the tower. The turbo site pretty low in the engine bay and therefore you're limited in size.
 
#30 ·
Nice to see a RHD IS going through the gte swap.

I really like how that mani/turbo combination fits. Seems to fit very well with the turbo above the rail, but still enough clearance against the strut tower.

I've always been preferential to log style manifolds rather than oversized runner/long tubular style mani's where there's too much surface area and volume to lose heat and exhaust energy.

Love the GT35R pick as well...I would disagree that it would spool 'ridiculously fast'. I hate waiting for response...and this would be my pick as well.

Keep the updates coming.
 
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